All content for Train Sim World is created in 3ds Max (models and animations), which is standard across the games industry. However, that's just the tool that we use and Blender is perfectly suitable as a replacement for 3ds Max if that's what you're used to.

I use Inventor 2018 for my job (mechanical engineer), and now Fusion 360 (free for hobbyists) at home, and import files to 3dsMax/Blender, then go to UE4. I just cannot use 3ds or Blender after using an actual CAD system.

If you want a "free" system, and you have the know-how to work in a CAD system, I'd highly recommend using Fusion 360, then Blender, to get a file into Unreal 4.

Here are the sites that I use:https://texturehaven.com/ has a lot of CC0 photoscanned PBR materials available with no registration.https://www.textures.com/ after registration allows you to download 15 textures every day for free however it's limited to 1024x1024 resolution.
Raster blueprints on https://www.the-blueprints.com/ are free and vector blueprints are paid. Requires registration to get the full resolution.https://pixabay.com/ is the most popular CC-0 library of pictures. It requires registration to get full resolution and to remove Captcha.

I think you can bring in textures from Blender, but it's usually just easier to import something into Unreal 4, then tweak it as needed. I get cautious about importing anything other than base models from one system to another, as the lighting codes in each program can be vastly different.

Hmm yes, thanks for that. Doing that stuff in the UE4 editor seems to be simple but can
I ask how much texture will hurt FPS if you go the whole hog on brickwork etc? I get the need for fewer triangles in the model, just not used to detailed texture yet.

If you create each brick as an individual model (I tried that once. Killed a 64-GB RAM computer.), it will be incredibly resource-intensive. If you use PBR textures, the only real hit is in how detailed (512x512 vs 2048x2048 for instance) the textures are. As far as I understand how PBR's work, it's kind of like they're still a 2D texture, but have a kind of cheat-sheet built in to tell a computer how the light reacts and reflects off of its surface, tricking the eyes into thinking it's 3D. In a conventional 3D program, the logic is:

Model --> Texture --> Light --> Lighting code and resources calculate how the textures and models will work when hit with light.

In a PBR, it's more of:

Model --> PBR Texture --> Light --> Lighting code is told by PBR texture what it will look like, depending on light angle. The PBR takes the calculation out of the equation (heh) by coming up with how it will look beforehand.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I see PBR's working. I think the biggest resource drain is in the size of the texture itself, not the PBR behind it.

Hmm yes, thanks for that. Doing that stuff in the UE4 editor seems to be simple but can
I ask how much texture will hurt FPS if you go the whole hog on brickwork etc? I get the need for fewer triangles in the model, just not used to detailed texture yet.

Click to expand...

Texture does not hurt performance much if you set the right texture compression. You should use normal maps and AO maps to get the detail. There is also another way by using parallax shader but that is quite resource intensive.

If you create each brick as an individual model (I tried that once. Killed a 64-GB RAM computer.), it will be incredibly resource-intensive. If you use PBR textures, the only real hit is in how detailed (512x512 vs 2048x2048 for instance) the textures are. As far as I understand how PBR's work, it's kind of like they're still a 2D texture, but have a kind of cheat-sheet built in to tell a computer how the light reacts and reflects off of its surface, tricking the eyes into thinking it's 3D. In a conventional 3D program, the logic is:

Model --> Texture --> Light --> Lighting code and resources calculate how the textures and models will work when hit with light.

In a PBR, it's more of:

Model --> PBR Texture --> Light --> Lighting code is told by PBR texture what it will look like, depending on light angle. The PBR takes the calculation out of the equation (heh) by coming up with how it will look beforehand.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I see PBR's working. I think the biggest resource drain is in the size of the texture itself, not the PBR behind it.

Click to expand...

Actually there are several textures in a PBR material and most of them are grayscale. The biggest resource drain is the shader itself.